Eight suspected Al-Qaeda militants on trial in Yemen had planned attacks on Western targets in five of the six Gulf Arab states, the prosecutor said yesterday. The eight defendants, accused of conspiring to attack the British and Italian embassies in the Yemeni capital, also planned attacks in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Said Al-Aqal told the court. Targets included "joint venture banks, American restaurants ... US and other expatriate hospital doctors, and managers of foreign companies and international schools," Aqal said, citing documents seized by police.The eight defendants, who include an Iraqi and two Syrians, went on trial on March 21, the same day that verdicts were delivered in the related trial of 11 Yemeni suspects. The eight stand accused of forming an armed gang, forging passports and other documents, and possessing arms and explosives. At a previous hearing on March 28, Iraqi defendant Anwar Al-Jilani, 20, admitted collecting information on Western targets in Sanaa but denied any role in carrying out attacks.
| "No, no! Certainly not!" |